Pentagon reverses itself, calls deadly Kabul strike an error

“The strike was a tragic mistake,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference

The Pentagon retreated from its defence of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing on September 17 that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State (IS) extremist as first believed.

“The strike was a tragic mistake,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference.

For days after the August 29 strike, Pentagon officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly, despite 10 civilians being killed, including seven children. News organisations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organisation and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon’s assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.